Mobile Payments and millennials

23 May A Millennial’s View: Money, Saving and the Future.

Posted at 11:59h in FinTech by
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Like many other people my age (21) my relationship with finance has been guided by  my parents’ experiences. I’ve listened to lengthy conversations they’ve had with each other about how much debt they are in, the bills they have to pay and the interest rates on their credit cards. These types of conversations have lead to a generation of 20 something year old Millennials with a natural tendency to avoid debt, loans and credit cards. The reality is many of us don’t have a clue about mortgages or credit scores, in fact we are pretty much spooked when it comes to credit and taking out loans of any kind. One thing I am certain of is that we’re the generation obsessed with being able to monitor our money. Any tech company that can tap into this need will build a long term relationship with us.

We’re naturally tech savvy, a generation of digital natives, always connected and only a few taps away from our account balance. Research has shown that we are better at managing money that our baby boomer parents who have been hardened by the many ups and downs they have lived through. We’ve seen the repercussions of our parents debts. So, if this means sacrificing nice meals out and instead staying in with our pot noodles, so we can pay our utility bills, then so be it!

We use the likes of Mint to monitor our spending in a way that meets our needs. We’re using alternatives to traditional credit in order to obtain the things we want, through technology designed especially for us. Klarna and Tucr are applications providing us with platforms that give us a chance to pay for larger purchases through a number of fixed or flexible installments. They make it so much easier to manage money with no fuss, no extra charges and no hidden fees. In fact, Tucr is 100% free for consumers (I should know, after all I do work there lol).

How do I see my relationship with finance changing as I become a fully grown adult? (Not this “make believe” adult I am trying to be now). Thanks to technology my relationship will only get better and more personal.  In fact looking back can tell us a lot about how things may change in the future. First there were the old school physical retail banks. Let’s face it,  boring, awful looking buildings, that you put money into to save, hoping that you’d get it back. Then, came phone banking. Thank god for no more dealings with big scary bank managers. Then came internet banking, and all the novelty that comes with it. Allowing us to view balances and transfer money online, the possibilities are endless. Now I can fire open my banking app in a few milliseconds and perform a transaction. Entering a bank, I am met by customer experience reps, working towards building positive relationships with customers, putting customer experience at the forefront. Yes we have come a long way.

Perhaps 10 years from now, when I’m sitting with my hubby to be, we will be able to apply for a mortgage, get instant feedback and approval in minutes. Maybe instead of using a credit card to build our credit score we can use Klarna and Tucr to show proof of our ability to make payments.  Through Mint we may have full control of our financial data and can choose what data we want to share with lenders. I see the future  of ‘building good credit’, and it’s looking bright.  I see it being replaced by a more open and realistic record of how we manage our money.


We millennials have seen the worst side of money.  Watching our families struggle with loans and borrowing  to pay their mortgages in the financial crash, the local businesses that have closed, the towns that have ghosted and the generation that has immigrated. Yet we remain confident that we have been molded for the better. We are the future of finance, banking and startups. We are cautious, we are resourceful and we are surrounded by technology. Yes, money does make the world go around but technology is going to make it go around so much faster than ever before. I am more than ready to embrace finance in all its ugliness and its beauty – you know, try out this “adulting” thing for real at some point.

This article was written by Clodagh Doyle a blogger and a digital marketing intern at Tucr.io.